'Black Mamba killed my son': Father speaks out after 24-year-old son found dead in canal
A devastated father today said legal high Black Mamba was responsible for the death of his son who drowned in a canal.
Alton Barrett now wants to see the substance, which he says destroyed his son's life, completely banned.
"It killed my son, I know it killed him," he said.
The body of Darren Scarlett was found by a passer-by in the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal on March 20.
Mr Barrett revealed that after a night of taking the substance, the 24-year-old was on his way to buy more on the morning his body was found.
Mr Barrett, 47, was speaking following the broadcast of a controversial BBC Three documentary which claimed Wolverhampton has a Black Mamba 'epidemic'.
He said his son, a former pupil at All Saints Primary School and Deansfield School, had 'lost his way' to drugs some years ago and had got in with the 'wrong sort of people'.
Darren was a 'happy lad' who adored his family and five-year-old son Kai, who was interested in cars and had studied mechanics at college in Bilston, said Mr Barrett.
He said the first sign that Darren, of Badger Drive, Park Village, was taking drugs was when he emptied his mother's bank account, stealing hundreds of pounds.
"He started with weed, we know he has taken smack, crack. But then he seemed to come off that sort of stuff and was just smoking weed," he said.
Mr Barrett said his son turned to legal highs as he could not afford stronger drugs, and that substance abuse had dramatically changed both his son's appearance and his behaviour, as well as his health – leading Darren to have regular seizures, some of which saw him collapse and needing hospital treatment.
"His appearance was always important to him, he got lots of attention from girls and was always looking smart," said Mr Barrett, a registered manager for children's services, who also has a five-year-old daughter, Macy.
"He went from being a happy, cheerful guy to being moody. His appearance wasn't right, he wasn't buying clothes like he used to and started smelling, his hygiene had just gone. He stopped getting haircuts and everybody knew him as a drifter around town. He was well-known to a lot of people.
"I was never embarrassed by it, I was sickened because we all tried with him and the more we spoke to him, the more detached he became."
On the night before his death, Mr Barrett said Darren had been out with one of his friends 'and they had taken a lot of Black Mamba'.
"They stopped at Darren's flat on Saturday night and on Sunday morning he woke up and said he was going to get more drugs. He left at about 10am, and his body was found roughly at 12.30pm and they said he had been in the water about two hours before he was found.
"He may have had a seizure, I can't see him running and jumping into the canal, he wouldn't have done that, or somebody could have pushed him. He could have owed somebody money, we don't know. But if he hadn't been going out to buy Black Mamba that time, he would still be alive."
An inquest last month, coroner Zafar Siddique confirmed the cause of death was 'drowning, pending toxicology reports.'
On learning the news of his only son's death, Mr Barrett said his 'whole world fell apart'.
He said a forthcoming change in the law to make Black Mamba, among other substances, illegal, is no comfort to him and his family. "It's no comfort at all because this thing has been killing people for a long time," he said.
He now hopes to work with police and raise awareness and aims to get the substance banned.
